1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally in the field of embedded antennas. More specifically, the present invention is in the field of embedded antennas in semiconductor die packaging.
2. Background Art
The increasing need for mobility and the expanding range of wireless services are driving a growing consumer demand for small size, high-performance and feature-rich wireless communications devices, such as wireless handsets, at competitive prices. In order to meet this consumer demand, the design goal of manufacturers of these wireless communications devices is to achieve the highest performance with the least amount of implementation complexity. Manufacturers can reduce implementation complexity by optimizing the integration of the various components that are used in the manufacture of the wireless communication devices. However, one wireless communication device component that has not been optimized yet from and a size and integration perspective is the antenna. Most of the antenna configurations currently in use consist of a simple rigid metallic wire protruding from the wireless communication device.
The simple rigid metallic wire antenna mentioned above requires a standard 50.0 ohm transmission line to connect the antenna to the transceiver section of a wireless communication device. However, since the antenna does not always present a 50.0 ohm impedance to the transceiver, an impedance matching circuit is required to match the antenna impedance to the 50.0 impedance of the transceiver. The required impedance matching circuit increases the manufacturing cost of the wireless communication device. Additionally, the 50.0-ohm transmission line discussed above can produce line losses that decrease the performance of the wireless communication device.
One approach for integrating an antenna in a wireless communication device involves printing a patch or dipole antenna on the main printed circuit board of the wireless communication device. Although the above approach provides an integrated antenna on the main printed circuit board, the resulting integrated antenna has the undesirable effect of taking up valuable real estate on the main printed circuit board.
Another approach utilizes miniaturized antennas in a stand-alone configuration for Global Positioning System (xe2x80x9cGPSxe2x80x9d) and Bluetooth applications. Although these miniaturized antennas have a small size, they still require a standard 50.0 ohm transmission line and impedance matching circuit for proper coupling to the transceiver section of the wireless communication device. As discussed above, the impedance matching circuit increases the cost of the wireless communication device. Also, as discussed above, the 50.0-ohm transmission line can produce line losses that decrease the performance of the wireless communication device. Further, a stand-alone antenna must be attached to a printed circuit board in the wireless communication device, and thus requires an additional assembly cost.
A slot antenna for semiconductor applications was reported in a paper by H. Rogier et al., xe2x80x9cDesign of an On-Package Slot Antenna for Bluetooth Applications,xe2x80x9d Proceedings of the 9th IEEE Topical Meeting on Electrical Performance of Electronic Packaging, pp. 292-295, Oct. 23-25, 2000 (European Patent no. 120418N pending).
Therefore, there exists a need for an antenna that has a small size and is integrated in wireless communication device. More specifically, there exists a need for an antenna that does not take up real estate on the main printed circuit board of the wireless communication device, and does not require the additional assembly cost of a stand-alone antenna. Moreover, there exists a need for an antenna that does not require an impedance matching circuit to match the antenna impedance to the impedance of a transceiver in a wireless communications device.
The present invention is directed to a laminate package embedded antenna. The present invention overcomes the need in the art for a small size, low cost antenna that is integrated in a communication device by fabricating an antenna on a laminate substrate which also houses a semiconductor die coupled to the antenna.
According to one exemplary embodiment, a structure comprises a laminate substrate having a top surface for receiving a semiconductor die. For example, the laminate substrate can be an organic or a ceramic laminate material. The structure further the comprises an antenna element situated on the top surface of the laminate substrate, where the antenna element is coupled to a laminate substrate bond pad. For example, the antenna element may comprise copper. By way of further example, the antenna element may be a square metal pad, or may form a slot line, meander line, or patch pattern. For example, the antenna element may also be coupled to the laminate substrate bond pad by a trace on the top surface of the laminate substrate.
According to this exemplary embodiment, the structure further comprises a bonding wire that provides an electrical connection between the laminate substrate bond pad and a semiconductor die bond pad. For example, an input impedance of the antenna element coupled to the laminate substrate bond pad may match an output impedance at the semiconductor die bond pad. The structure may further comprise a capacitor coupled to the antenna element. For example, the capacitor may be an embedded capacitor.